Ahead of the vaccination drive against coronavirus, the first batches of Covishield, the vaccine produced by Serum Institute of India (SII) left Pune to be taken to different parts of the country. The first batch of the vaccine reached Delhi International Airport at about 10.40 am.

A SpiceJet flight carrying the vaccines landed at the Delhi airport . It had left for the national capital around 8 am, three hours after three trucks with the maiden consignment of the vaccines rolled out of the Serum Institute of India (SII) facility, 15 km from the Pune airport.

Civil Aviation Minister Hardeep Singh Puri said four airlines will operate nine flights to transport 56.5 lakh doses of COVID-19 vaccine from Pune to 13 cities across the country on Tuesday. Vaccine movement has started, he said on Twitter, adding that the first two flights operated by “SpiceJet and GoAir from Pune to Delhi and Chennai have taken off”.

“Temperature-controlled facility, ranging from -20 degrees Celsius to +25 degrees Celsius, at our two Cargo terminals can efficiently & safely handle Covid-19 vaccines. Both terminals can handle around 5.7 mn vials in a day,” the DIAL CEO said, news agency ANI reported.

Three trucks carrying the Covishield vaccine reached Pune International Airport from Serum Institute of India’s facility in the city during the early hours of Tuesday and are being shipped to different locations in the country.

India will commence what will be the world’s largest vaccination drive from January 16. Interacting with chief ministers on the country’s vaccination plan, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday had said 30 million frontline workers will be vaccinated in the first phase, adding that the government would vaccinate 300 million citizens in the next few months.